cover image The Crane

The Crane

Reiner Zimnik. New York Review of Books, $16.95 (96pp) ISBN 978-1-59017-075-5

Follows the life of a thoughtful worker whose dream is fulfilled when he is chosen to operate his town's crane: ""He loved the way the girders hummed in the breeze. He loved the night sky filled with stars. It was as beautiful as any dream, but it was better than a dream because it was real."" Zimnik's charming pen-and-inks accompany episodes involving river pirates, shark attacks and the lingering horrors of war, as the devoted worker watches the world below him changing.